RAJASTHAN

The Centre has asked the Rajasthan government to stop using national rural job scheme funds for a village cleanliness drive in the state, said officials familiar with the development.

In 2016, chief minister Vasundhara Raje announced Mukhyamantri Swachh Gram Yojna (MSGY) to ensure cleanliness in villages and boost the Prime Minister’s dream project Swachh Bharat Mission, which set a target to make the country open defecation-free by October 2, 2019.

The state government linked the village cleanliness scheme with the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) for partial fund support.

The Centre has now directed the state government to arrange funds for the cleanliness scheme through other means.

State panchayati raj minister Rajendra Rathore confirmed that the Centre had stopped diversion of MGNREGA funds for the cleanliness scheme. The union rural development ministry issued the directive in this regard on February 9.

The CM’S scheme aimed at making villages clean and creating awareness about cleanliness among the rural people besides encouraging them to recycle biodegradable waste.

The scheme was launched only in panchayats which were open defecation-free. As part of the scheme, the state government directed MGNREGA authorities in the districts to appoint two sweepers in each cluster — covering 150 households.

The government also directed that dustbins be installed for every 10 to 15 families and e-rickshaws collect the garbage from the dustbins and transport it to the treatment plant for disposal.

Out of 489 panchayats in Barmer district, the scheme could be launched only in 75 panchayats. Even after two years, no dustbins or e-rickshaw have been purchased, officials said.

INTERNATIONAL

The 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics concluded with a spectacular closing ceremony on February 25.

The grand event ran through 17 days and saw 2,920 athletes competing from 92 nations.

Tokyo will host the 2020 Summer Olympics, while Beijing will welcome the countries for the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Norway won a record 39 medals overall to finish on top while Germany finish second with 31 medals.

· Sri Lanka soon to release all Indian fishermen as a goodwill gesture

Sri Lankangovernment decided to release remaining 20 Indian fishermen in their custody for charges of poaching in Sri Lankan waters.
This will be the first time in recent years that no Indian fishermen are left in Sri Lankan custody.
Fishermen from India and Sri Lanka are frequently detained for illegally fishing in each other’s territorial waters since the Arabian Sea does not have a clearly defined marine border and the wooden boats lack the technology to avoid being drifting away.

· Cricket Canada Unveils ICC-Approved T20 League

Canada’s own first franchise-based Twenty20 league “Global T20 Canada”, was announced in New Delhi.
The Global T20 Canada League will begin functioning from July 2018 at three venues in Toronto.
It is conceptualized, designed, developed and managed by Mercuri Group with Cricket Canada.
Global T20 Canada League has received official sanction of the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Cricket Canada become the first Associate member of the ICC to start a Twenty20 franchise league in the North America market.

NATIONAL

The second week of March will witness Andaman & Nicobar Command hosting a multinational mega event MILAN 2018.

MILAN is a congregation of littoral navies conducted biennially by Indian Navy at the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, under the aegis of the Andaman and Nicobar Command.

Besides fostering co-operation through naval exercises and professional interactions, MILAN also provides an excellent opportunity to the participating navies to come together in a spirit of collaboration and mutual understanding to nurture stronger ties.

Hyderabad hosted 15th edition of BioAsia 2018
The 15th edition of BioAsia, the annual flagship programme of Government of Telangana was held from 22-24th February 2018 at Hyderabad International Convention Center (HICC) in Hyderabad.

For this year’s event, Ireland, Netherlands and South Africa were international partners whereas the States of Gujarat, Assam and Rajasthan were the state partners.

Aadhaar is increasingly becoming mandatory to make use of most of the government schemes and other activities such as getting a new SIM card or opening a new bank account.

Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has now introduced a blue coloured ‘Baal Aadhaar’ card for children below the age of 5 years.

All children below the age of 5 don’t need to give biometric details for getting an Aadhaar card.

Aruna Budda Reddy created history by becoming the first Indian to win an individual medal at the Gymnastics World Cupin Melbourne, Australia.
She clinched a Bronze medal in the Women’s Vault.
Aruna, who hails from Hyderabad, scored 13.649 average points to finish third and claim the bronze medal at the Hisense Arena.
Tjasa Kysslef of Slovenia took home the Gold, while Emily Whitehead of Australia won the Silver.

The second week of March will witness Andaman & NicobarCommand hosting a multinational mega event MILAN 2018.
MILANis a congregation of littoral navies conducted biennially by Indian Navy at the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The theme of this year’s MILAN International Maritime Seminar is ‘In Pursuit of Maritime Good Order – Need for Comprehensive Information Sharing Apparatus’.
With the underlying theme of ‘Friendship Across the Seas’, MILAN 2018 will witness a diverse mix of professional exercises and seminars, social events and sporting fixtures.

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)successfully flown it’s Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle RUSTOM 2 in Karnataka.
The flight assumes significance as this is the first flight in user configuration with higher power engine.
India at present depends on America and Israel for such predator drones. DRDO is developing within India a medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle RUSTOM 2.
It has the capability to fly for 24 hours at a stretch at over 200 km/hr speed, and can, not only conduct sustained surveillance but will be able to destroy enemy targets.

Chinese technology giant Huawei and telecom services provider Bharti Airtel announced to have successfully conducted 5G network trial under a test set-up in India.
The trial was conducted at Airtel’s Network Experience Centre in Manesar (Gurugram).
During the test trial, the speed of more than 3Gbps was achieved.
This is the highest measured throughput for a mobile network in 3.5 GHz band with 100MHz bandwidth and end-to-end network latency of approximately 1 msec.